New court filings show Alaska is once again behind in processing food stamp applications • Alaska Beacon

The Alaska Department of Health is once again running into a backlog of food stamp applications.

The news comes from state data included in a filing by the Northern Justice Project in its class-action lawsuit against the state. The lawsuit asks the court to ensure the state provides food stamp benefits on a timely basis after years of chronic delays.

Attorney Nick Feronti represents the class of Alaskans affected by the backlog in the department’s Public Assistance Division, which administers the federal nutritional assistance program for the state.

Thousands of Alaskans waited months for federal food aid last year because the state’s aid department accumulated a backlog of crisis proportions. He said recent filings show the crisis is ongoing.

“The data shows me that as a state and as a community we still need lasting solutions to this problem,” he said. “I think any defendant, big or small, can find temporary fixes that make things look better, but I think actually fixing a system is a different matter.”

Through a spokeswoman, DPA Director Deb Etheridge, who took up her role at the height of the initial backlog in 2023, acknowledged additional applications were being processed late.

“As soon as that happened, we immediately hired you back[r] “We have a backlog team and expect to be back on schedule in the next 30 days,” she said in an email Wednesday. “This is a particularly busy time of year and that is the reason for the increase and reintroduction of interviews.”

State data shows that as of September of this year, more than 3,000 Alaska residents waited more than a month for their food assistance paperwork to be processed. According to the most recent data, the department processed 63% of its regular applications on time in September. That’s down from 87% in May, but a significant improvement compared to last March, when only 19% of applications were processed on time.

Feronti said he filed the supplemental materials to show the court that the problems that led to the lawsuit continue.

“We want the community we live in, we want the court – we want everyone to be fully informed about what’s going on. The state, in its own way, has said several times, “Hey, we fixed this,” or “The fix is ​​near,” or whatever, and now we’re facing four-digit backlogs again, and that means the state was wrong.” he said.

This winter will be the third in which thousands of Alaskans who rely on food stamps will fall behind and not receive benefits.

“I’m just worried about my neighbors and I really want the state to fix this and that’s not happening,” Feronti said.